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The CIF Southern Section released its top baseball and softball players for the 2019 season and eight desert diamond stars -- six baseball players and two softball players -- as well as one coach earned special praise.

It's no surprise that the highest honor went to the desert's only champions -- the Xavier Prep Saints.

Ace pitcher Seth Mattox, only a sophomore, was named the Division 5 Player of the Year for his remarkable 23 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

His teammate Jordan Ruiz, also a sophomore and the MVP of the championship game, also earned All-CIF Division 5 first-team honors.

Saints coach Andrew Clark, who did a marvelous job navigating his team through the postseason, was named the Division 5 coach of the year.

Rancho Mirage had a Division 5 honoree as Cesar Vela, also only a sophomore, was named to the Division 5 team dominated by desert athletes.

Palm Desert star Jordan Sprinkle had a nice feather in his cap for his final season, making the CIF-SS first team in Division 1. A high honor for the talented infielder who will be playing at UC Santa Barbara.

On the softball diamond, a pair of versatile talents were honored by the CIF.

Talented junior infielder Jasmine Perezchica of Palm Desert was named to the Division 2 CIF-SS first team.

And Rancho Mirage's Christine Correa, who will playing softball at La Sierra next season, earned first-team honors in Division 5.

Poly Pasadena base runner Sean McTigue gestures toward the ball in confusion as it drops in fair ground on the final play of Saturday's Division 5 championship game against Xavier Prep, Riverside, Calif., May 18, 2019. McTigue bumped into Xavier Prep's catcher and was called for interference to end the game. Zoë Meyers/The Desert Sun